The Court of Appeal, Abuja has rejected a lawsuit seeking to disqualify the Edo State Labour Party candidate, Olumide Akpata, from the upcoming governorship election set for September 21st.
In a unanimous ruling, a three-member panel of the appellate court determined that Kenneth Imasuangbon’s lawsuit failed to take advantage of the Labour Party’s internal conflict resolution mechanism before going to court.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Okon Abang, the court ruled that the case had no cogent and verifiable evidence against the respondent.
The court concluded that Imasuangbon’s assertions that the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association did not sign the Indemnity Form were inadmissible under statute and outside the court’s jurisdiction.
Justice Abang noted, “The appeal was premature in law and cannot be entertained on the ground that the necessary conditions precedent were not met.”
He emphasized that the appellant didn’t submit the disputed results of the party’s 23 February primary election, which they claimed to have won.
Imasuangbon’s assertion that the Labour Party did not provide official results was invalid, as his agent was present at the primary election, according to the court’s ruling.
Imasuangbon was faulted by the appellate court for failing to call witnesses or delegates from those who allegedly voted for him in the primary election.
Consequently, the court upheld the decision of Justice Babatunde Quadiri at the Federal High Court in Benin City, which rejected Imasuangbon’s suit for lack of merit.
On February 23, Akpata was declared the winner of the primary election conducted by the Julius Abure faction of the LP.
He polled 316 votes to beat Kenneth Imasuagbon and four other aspirants in the primary poll.
Aggrieved by the outcome, Imagination approached the Federal High Court in Edo State to challenge the process of the primary election.
In his case filed before the lower court in Benin, Imasuangbon attempted to disqualify Akpata as the Labour Party’s governorship candidate, arguing that Akpata did not have the necessary qualifications to take part in the election.
He also prayed for an order compelling the Labour Party to withdraw Akpata’s candidacy and replace him with himself (Imasuangbon), who claimed to have finished second in the primary election.
The Edo State governorship election will be held on September 21.
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